Coming out of the Week Seven win on the road against the Los Angeles Rams in which the Pittsburgh Steelers’ offense seemingly found something in the fourth quarter, roaring back for a 24-17 win, there was significant anticipation heading into the Week Eight matchup at Acrisure Stadium against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Rather quickly though on Sunday, the Steelers offense showed that the anticipation was unwarranted as the unit fell flat on its face. Players failed to execute, leading to a quick three-and-out that featured two drops by wide receiver Diontae Johnson, a sack allowed by right tackle Chukwuma Okorafor and a holding penalty on Okorafor on third down.
For NFL Network and Audacy NFL analyst Brian Baldinger, it is Groundhog Day for the Steelers’ offense coming out of the Week Eight 20-10 loss to the Jaguars.
In a video posted to Twitter Monday morning breaking down the first three plays of the game for the Steelers’ offense, Baldinger was critical of the players not making plays, though he did state that “everybody in Pittsburgh is accountable” for the state of the Steelers’ offense.
“Everybody in Pittsburgh is accountable for the mess that is their offense. This is the first play of the game. You can’t call a better play. It’s a perfect play against this defense. And I don’t know, a little bit of the quarterback, a little bit of the receiver right there. You got a big chunk play right there that’s dropped,” Baldinger said, talking over the clip of the Johnson drop on the first play of the game in which he runs a seam route between the hashmarks out of the slot and is wide open, but drops the pass from Kenny Pickett.
After that drop, things snowballed on the first drive for the Steelers. On the very next play, Jaguars defensive end Travon Walker raced around Okorafor to sack Pickett.
“Travon Walker hadn’t made a whole lot of noise so far this year. He’s just gonna run your right tackle right into your quarterback, alright? Meet at the quarterback. Five-yard loss,” Baldinger stated, talking over the clip of the second-down sack from Walker that pushed the Steelers into a third and long.
“So you get 3rd and 15 here, alright? Right tackle doesn’t have the right shoes on right here. He’s gonna take on a bull rush and his feet are just gonna slide right back to the quarterback. But Pickett gets outside of it and he makes a perfect throw to Diontae Johnson. It’s a perfect throw,” Baldinger said. “Like, you have to catch the ball. So they [fans] can call for the offensive coordinator’s head, they can do all that stuff. Players gotta play. Players gotta make plays.”
The two drops to start the game from Johnson were rather frustrating, especially the first play of the game that should have gone for a big play.
The third-down drop seems to be glossed over a bit, but it was a perfect throw from Pickett on the run. Johnson has to make that play. He catches that pass though, it gets wiped out by the Okorafor holding penalty.
As Baldinger points out, it’s the same thing over and over again, week after week with the Steelers’ offense early in games. A lack of execution when plays are there. That’s what makes it Groundhog Day.
To his credit, Johnson stated after the loss that it’s not the coaching, it’s the players. Plays are there, guys aren’t making them. It’s easy to blame the play calling as a fan, but the tape shows things are there, and for a variety of reasons players aren’t making the plays. That’s not a winning formula.
How it gets corrected is anyone’s guess. You can’t call a better play to open a game than Matt Canada did Sunday, that much is certain. It goes down as a missed opportunity, which snowballed into offensive mistakes. Can’t have it.
